Baba Metzia 10:5-6
Baba Metzia 10:5
Let’s say that a person’s wall was close to his neighbor’s garden and it collapsed. The neighbor tells him to remove his stones and he replies that he is giving them to the neighbor. In such a case, we don’t listen to him (i.e., he must still remove the stones unless the neighbor actually wants them). If the owner of the garden agrees to take the stones (and removes them), then the owner of the wall offers to pay him for his labor and take back the stones, we don’t listen to him. Let’s say that a person hired a worker to gather straw or stubble with him. The worker asks for his pay and the employer tells him to take his wages from the straw or stubble, we don’t listen to him. If the worker accepts this offer and then the employer offers him money in exchange for the straw or stubble, we don’t listen to him. If a person puts manure in the public domain, he has discarded it and whoever wants to may use it as fertilizer. A person may not soak clay or make bricks in the public domain but he may knead clay there - though still not bricks. If a person builds in the public domain, he must use the stones as soon as they are brought (because one can’t just leave them in the public domain). If he causes damage, he must pay for it. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that he has 30 days to prepare for construction (before he would be liable for any damage he causes).
Baba Metzia 10:6
Let’s say that there are two gardens, one above the other, and vegetables grow between them. Rabbi Meir says that they belong to the upper garden, while Rabbi Yehuda says that they belong to the lower garden. Rabbi Meir argued that if the upper owner removed his soil, there wouldn’t be any vegetables there; Rabbi Yehuda countered that if the lower owner fill his garden (with soil, until it reached the upper garden), there wouldn’t be any vegetables there. Rabbi Meir said that since either party could prevent the vegetables from growing, we determine ownership based on whose land nourishes them. Rabbi Shimon said that the upper owner can take whatever he can reach and the rest belongs to the lower owner.